Sadiq S BhatUnited Nations — UN is investigating the escalator and teleprompter malfunctions that disrupted US President Donald Trump's visit to the General Assembly on September 23, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, has said.
The world body opened a deeper probe after the incidents, and Dujarric said the organisation has been in contact with the US mission to the UN.
He made clear the UN will share further updates when they are available, and that Washington is welcome to join the inquiry.
"We have spoken to the US mission. We had said even before the tweet from the president that we had launched a deeper investigation. We have told the US they are welcome to join us as we look further, but obviously we stand by our preliminary findings," he said in a press conference at UNGA80.
Journalists pressed the spokesman on whether the UN is examining video evidence. Dujarric confirmed the footage is part of the review and flagged the number of cameras in and around the Assembly hall.
"We are looking into the footage, as you know, there are quite a lot of cameras. We have already shared the preliminary findings. On different occasions, as soon as I have an update, I’ll share it," he said.
As per UN preliminary findings, the escalator stopped because a built-in safety mechanism on the comb step at the top of the moving staircase had been triggered.
The mechanism is intended to prevent people or objects from being caught or pulled into the gearing, and it appeared that a White House videographer may have set off the safety function inadvertently.
The latest remarks from the UN Spokesperson came after a segment on Fox News in which presenter Jesse Watters suggested the malfunctions were deliberate and called for the bombing of the UN headquarters.
"Shocked to say the least"
Those comments provoked immediate outrage at the world body.
Dujarric described the reaction in stark terms. "We were shocked to say the least, at the remarks. There is nothing funny or ironic in calling for the bombing, the gassing, the destruction of this building, in which thousands of people work, where delegates come in.
"We know painfully the reality of what happens when threats are made against the UN. We lost friends in Baghdad. I personally walked through the rubble of the building in Algiers where the UN was bombed. Our colleagues in Abuja were also bombed. That kind of language is unacceptable."
According to reports of the Fox segment, Watters said the teleprompter cut out at the start of Trump's UN speech and noted an escalator at UN headquarters froze as the president and first lady stepped onto it.
Watters went on to claim that UN staffers had "sabotaged" the teleprompter and escalator, and he said the malfunction amounted to "an insurrection and what we need to do is either leave the UN or we need to bomb it."
Dujarric said the UN has been in touch with Fox News and that Watters had contacted a UN colleague to apologise.
